This invention pertains to golf ball washing devices and in particular to hand held golf ball washers.
In the course of the playing of the game of golf, it is inevitable that the golf ball becomes grass-stained and caked with mud. In order to make the driven ball easier to find and to ensure that its flight characteristics are not affected by the presence of mud or other foreign material upon the surface of the ball, it is useful to clean the surface of the golf ball to remove foreign material and Grass or other stains.
Available golf ball washers which are known are predominantly nonportable and nonmotorized, such as illustrated in Burkholder, U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,526; Procario, U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,274; and Brillhart, U.S. Pat. No. 2,031,633. A manually driven, portable golf ball washer is disclosed in McConnell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,016.
A motorized portable golf ball washer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,574 to Benkovsky which features a foam lined cup which rotates about the ball while held in place by a liner/retainer which resists turning of the ball. In order to wash the entire ball, it would be necessary to move the ball during the washing operation to another orientation in the cup so that the portion of the ball's surface which had been retained by the liner would then be washed.
Ingram et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,287, teaches a hand operated portable ball cleaner which provides a toroidal sponge inside stiff rings which operates upon the golf ball's surface as the ball is manipulated by the user.
Stoltzman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,974, discloses an elongated ball washer for portable use featuring a bristle-lined slot to receive the golf ball which is reciprocated in the slot.
British patent number 13,877 shows a washer powered by an egg beater mechanism which rotates the ball in contact with concave brush surfaces.
None of the above described washers provides a battery-powered, portable, hand-held golf ball washer which washes the entire ball surface in one operation and yet is simple to operate and maintain.
Applicant's pending application Ser. No. 08/140,745 entitled Hand Held Golf Ball Washer discloses a ball washer which employs a case with a ball receiving chamber and a motor containing chamber, the ball receiving chamber having therein a ring shaped brush free to rotate within the ball receiving chamber and in relatively close relationship to the wall of the ball receiving chamber with the ball receiving chamber having a removable hatch therein positioned such that a golf ball may be inserted within the ring-shaped brush in the ball-receiving chamber, a detergent solution added, and the hatch closed, with motor and gear means within the motor containing chamber to drive the ring-shaped brush about the golf ball in the ball receiving chamber.